Secondary alternative might be some hybrid bringing using airbnb as an option especially on big weekends like, Big Ten Football games, Mom's weekend, Dad's weekend, Graduation, etc. 

We live 20 minutes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (They're spending $500 million dollars to expand the HOF so that it's a major destination).

The key is engaging the services of an honest turnkey operator, because MANY operate under "wholesaler" standards of throwing out unicorn fantasy numbers just to get you excited enough to buy and trust them.

This an education and knowledge issue....if she wants to ignore the real information on how to run a real business then there is nothing you can do.....she can live in her fantasy world and fail.... the rest of us will profit on her failure.Dave Ramsey laughs at a lot of people that chirp on about tax deductions when you are losing money...... obviously he is about paying off the mortgage and being debt free on your house...and people try to defend on keeping their mortgage by saying the interest is a tax right off.....so you want to pay 35k in interest so you can save 5k on your taxes?....

Recently, my girlfriend and I went to a Clemson University football game in South Carolina.

Not to mention BU has a new football stadium.

Now...back to college football preview shows...

New construction at least at this point is not over built like the last free fall.some areas in the country as you say have been in decline for decades with only very slow movement to the better  ( think Detroit and some rust belt areas)Other markets are on fire and given job growth and lack of buildable land a major retrench is not likely  think ( Charleston SC and Portlandia as two).in the meantime I know my teams are killing it right now.... so its like in football you have a 3 touchdown lead going into the second half you play not to lose and you end up losing..

If you are near colleges, ball parks, or football stadiums then you are in business especially if you are in a city where Airbnb is supported by the city.

And I had even read an article that the mayor or city commissioner (can't remember who exactly) was turning to the owner of the football team to help turn the city around.Jacksonville is geographically located in Florida where they have beaches, great marine/fishing lifestyle, they get three seasons (ish), are only a few hours drive away from Orlando and Atlanta and St Augustine.